While they didn’t announce that they would come round and fix the laser on my Xbox 360 drive, Microsoft did nevertheless have some pretty good news for gamers today. The E3 annual conference started with a keynote speech from Microsoft, which was as well attended and highly anticipated as you might imagine.

Amidst the glitz, glamour, and serious bigging up of the Microsoft unit, a new easy access dashboard was announced, the 60GB model of the console was confirmed, Netflix videos will be available over Xbox Live Marketplace, and a swathe of more next gen games that are certain to be huge hits (Gears of War 2, Resident Evil 5, and Fallout 3 were among those shown).

The new dashboard release is due in winter and it includes avatars and greater functionality apparently. Personally, I think it makes the 369 look startlingly more Wii like but that could just be my misinterpretation.

The Netflix media channel looks to be a superb addition. Live Gold members can access any content that’s in their Netflix queue and stream it directly through the Xbox 360 and onto your TV.

Oh, and coincidentally timed with the 60GB model of the 360, owners will be able to store games on the hard drive and although the disc will have to be in the machine in order to play the game (to avoid piracy – that’s the copying games variety of piracy and not the skull and crossbones, swashbuckling, high seas variety) it will mean considerably quicker load times and better performance.

Richard Sharp is the founder of gadgetsandgizmos.org. He loves technology, gadgets (comes with the territory) and social media. You'll find him writing features, attending events and playing with cool tech. Life's good.